The Elementary Montessori Material - English Restoration ## Chapter 08 - Adverbs ## VIII **ADVERBS** ### Analyses Again the exercise consists of sentences analyzed by means of colored cards and commands. The grammar box contains six compartments having, like the others, the names of the different parts of speech on title cards of proper color. The card for the adverb is pink. In the rear compartment are six slips for each exercise, and in the sections the usual number of corresponding colored cards for the necessary words. ### Group A (Adverbs of Manner) —Walk *slowly* to the window.\ Walk *rapidly* to the window.\ \ —Rise *silently* from your seat.\ Rise *noisily* from your seat.\ \ —Speak *softly* into the ear of your nearest comrade.\ Speak *loudly* into the ear of your nearest comrade.\ \ —Take five steps toward the door; turn *abruptly* to the left.\ Take five steps toward the door; turn *gradually* to the left.\ \ —Take your nearest comrade *lightly* by the arm.\ Take your nearest comrade *roughly* by the arm.\ \ —Look *smilingly* into the mirror.\ Look *scowlingly* into the mirror. \[86\] ### Group B (Adverbs of place and time) —Place your pencil *there*.\ Place your pencil *here*.\ \ —Lay your book *somewhere* on the table.\ Lay your book *elsewhere* on the table.\ \ —Walk to the window *constantly* clapping your hands.\ Walk to the window *occasionally* clapping your hands.\ \ —Drink the water in the glass *now*.\ Drink the water in the glass *by and by*.\ \ —Carry the pink tower *upstairs*.\ Carry the pink tower *downstairs*.\ \ —Write a word on the blackboard *immediately*.\ Write a word on the blackboard *soon*. ### Group C (Adverbs of quantity, comparison) —Walk along the hall swinging your arms *somewhat*.\ Walk along the hall swinging your arms *a great deal*.\ \ —Bend your head a *little*.\ Bend your head *much*.\ \ —Walk *slowly* to the window.\ Walk *less slowly* to the window.\ Walk *more slowly* to the window.\ \ —Place on the table your *most* beautiful drawing.\ —Place on the table your beautiful drawing.\ \ —Make a broad mark on the blackboard.\ Make a *very* broad mark on the blackboard. ### Group D (Adverbs of comparison, correlative adverbs) —Look for a piece of cloth softer *than* velvet.\ \[87\]—Look for a piece of cloth *as* soft as velvet.\ \ —Find among your colors a shade *as* black *as* the blackboard.\ —Find a piece of cloth *not so* shiny *as* satin.\ —Find among the plane insets a rectangle *as* broad *as* half the square.\ —Bring a rod longer *than* your copy-book.\ —Bring a rod *as* long *as* your copy-book.\ —Bring a rod *not so* long *as* your copy-book.\ —Find a piece of cloth *less* rough *than* the canvas. ### Permutations The sentences to be analyzed are reproduced as usual by building the first sentence on each slip; and then, by changing the adverb, the child gets the second or third sentence. One of the first permutations is to remove the adverb from those sentences where it performs the function of an *adjective to the verb*, thereby causing one action to be changed into another. For example take the two sentences: Walk slowly to the window.\ Walk rapidly to the window. Taking away the adverb we have: Walk to the window. The child can perform the action which, now, is a simple one. The adverb, however, changes, *modifies*, the action. If the teacher in play puts the two adverbs together in the same sentence the child has the problem of interpreting two contrary movements. That is, he is to go to the window *slowly* and *rapidly* at the same time. Taking away the adverb cards the sentence left is *Go to the window*. This action the child can perform. But how shall he perform it, in what way? With the help of adverbs! Similarly in the following sentences: \[88\] Bend your head *a little*.\ Bend your head *much*. Written without the adverb they indicate one action. What slight changes in the position of the head can be brought about by these adverbs! It is the *adverb* which really shows fine differentiations in movement! In other sentences also where the adverb is, so to speak, an *adjective* to an *adjective* and therefore really affects the object (noun), similar permutations may be made. Make a broad mark on the blackboard.\ Make a *very* broad mark on the blackboard. Here by the use of an adverb two different *objects* (nouns) are distinguished which, though they have the same quality (breadth) differ in degree (broad, very broad). Take, for instance, two objects belonging to the same series: Place on your table the prism which is most thick.\ Place on your table the prism which is least thick. If the adverbs are taken away the factor determining the degree of quality (thickness) disappears and we have sentences which are far less precise in their meaning: Place on your table the prism which is thick. As the teacher proceeds to make permutations in the different sentences she should remember (for Italian) that the normal position of the adverb is after the verb (in the compound tenses it comes between the auxiliary and the participle). (Note: In English the position of the adverb is much freer than in Italian; it often stands at the end of the sentence and even between subject and verb,—something\[89\] quite foreign to normal Italian usage. We retain the text entire.) In the sentences analyzed by the child it is sufficient to recall that the adverb modifies the verb and follows the verb it modifies. Take the sentence: Bend your head a little as you write. If the adverb is placed after the second verb the meaning changes: Bend your head as you write a little. The same is true in the following: Walk along the hall swinging your arms somewhat.\ Walk somewhat along the hall swinging your arms. General shifting of position would give results as follows: Bend a little your head as you write.\ A little bend your head as you write, etc., etc.\ Somewhat walk along the hall swinging your arms.\ Walk along somewhat the hall swinging your arms, etc., etc. The child is quick to recognize by ear the accurate, the normal position of the adverb. On the other hand, adverbs of quantity and comparison precede the adjective: Make a very broad mark on the blackboard.\ Place on your table the prism that is least thick. Permutation gives the following results: Make a broad very mark on the blackboard.\ Place on your table the prism which thick least is, etc., etc. Adverbs of time and place often ring like trumpet calls to attention at the beginning of the sentence: \[90\] Drink the water in the glass now.\ Now drink the water in the glass. (Note: In English the adverb of time, placed at the end of the sentence, gains quite as much emphasis. So for adverbs of place.) ### Lessons and Commands on Adverbs Subject: straight, zig-zag (diritto, a zig-zag). Command:— —Run *straight* into the other room; return to your place walking *zig-zag*. Subject: lightly, heavily, sedately (leggermente, gravemente, pesantemente). Command:— —Walk *lightly* into the other room; return to your place walking *sedately* as though you were a very important person; walk across the room and back again resting *heavily* on each step as though it were hurting you to walk. Subject: suddenly, gradually (ad un tratto, gradatamente). Command:— —Form in line and walk forward beginning *suddenly* to stamp with your left foot. Return to your places letting the stamping *gradually* cease. Subject: meanwhile, frequently, occasionally (sempre, spesso, raramente). Command:— —Form in line and march slowly into the next room, stopping *frequently*. Return to your places stopping *occasionally*.\ —Walk into the next room and back again, *meanwhile* keeping your eyes closed. \[91\] Subject: back, forward, to and fro (avanti, indietro, su e giù). Command:— —Form in line and walk *forward* to the other side of the room; then come *back* to your places.\ —Walk *to and fro* across the room with your heads lowered and your hands behind your back. Subject: forwards, backwards. Command:— —Stand in the middle of the room; then walk *backwards* to the window, being careful to walk in a straight line. Return to your places walking *forwards*. Subject: slowly, abruptly (lentamente, bruscamente). Command:— —Rise *slowly* from your seats.\ —Rise *abruptly* from your seats. Subject: politely, cordially (gentilmente, garbatamente). Command:— —Offer your chair *politely* to your nearest neighbor.\ —Shake hands *cordially* with your nearest neighbor. Subject: alternately, in succession, simultaneously (successivamente, alternativamente, simultaneamente). Command:— —Raise your two hands *alternately* above your heads.\ —Raise your two hands *simultaneously* above your heads.\ —One of you children walk around the room bowing to each pupil *in succession*. Subject: Well, badly, fairly, best, worst (bene, male, meglio, peggio, così così, benino, maluccio, benissimo, malissimo). \[92\] Command:— > —One of you call the children to the end of the room, carefully observing how they walk; judge their carriage without speaking and distribute the following cards where they belong: *well*, *badly*, *fairly*, *best*, *worst*. Subject: away, back (via). Command:— > —One of you stand in the center of the room; the others gather round him. Suddenly all of you run *away* from him. Then come *back* to him again. Subject: here, there, somewhere, elsewhere (qui, qua, costì, costà, lì, là, altrove). Command:— > —Form in line and the first four children come to me *here;* the rest go and stand *there* by the window. Now go and stand *somewhere* in the other room. Remain where you are a moment, then go and stand *elsewhere*. Finally all come back *here* to me. Subject: thus, likewise (così). Command:— —One of you walk around the room holding his arms in a certain position. The rest of you do *likewise*.\ —All of you hold your hands *thus*, as I am doing. Subject: up, down, upward, downward. Command:— —Roll your handkerchiefs into balls and throw them *up* to the ceiling.\ —Pick them up and throw them *down* again to the floor.\ —Look *upward* to the ceiling. Now look *downward* to the floor. \[93\] Subject: crosswise, lengthwise. Command:— —Lay two rods *crosswise* on the table. Then lay them *lengthwise* on the table. Subject: sharply, sullenly, gently, kindly. Command:— —*Sharply* order your nearest neighbor to rise from his seat.\ —Ask him *gently* to sit down again.\ —Sit *sullenly* in your chair with your eyes lowered.\ —Smile *kindly* at your nearest neighbor. ### A Burst of Activity: The Future of the Written Language In Popular Education In our own private experiments when we reached the adverb there occurred among the children a veritable explosion into a new kind of activity. They insisted on making up commands themselves. They invented them and then read them aloud to their companions or had their companions interpret the slips which they had written. All were most enthusiastic in performing these commands and they were rigorously scrupulous in acting them out down to the minutest detail. The executions came to be a literal, intensely real dramatisation: if a word was inexact or incorrect, the interpretation of the command threw the error into noisy relief, and the child who has written it saw before him an action quite different from what he had in mind. Then he realized that he had expressed his thought wrongly or inadequately and immediately set to work to correct his mistake. The revelation seemed to redouble his energy. He would hunt\[94\] among his numerous words for the one necessary to translate his idea into a living scene before his eyes. Suppose a child had written the following sentence involving the use of the adverb *sempre* "always": Walk about the room (sempre) *always* on tip-toe. meaning that the child should *all the while* go on tip-toe; if the child began to walk on tip-toe and continued to do so for a long time, trying to express *sempre* (always—forever) he would find himself facing a serious problem. Hence the spontaneous query: "What must I do to express myself correctly?" A little girl once wrote "Walk around the tables," meaning that the children should form a line and walk in and out around each table. Instead she saw her companions form a line and walk round the entire group of tables. Red in the face and out of breath she kept calling: "Stop, stop. That isn't the way," just as if this difference between the thought she actually had in mind and the way it was being executed were hurting her intolerably. This is only a passing suggestion of something which, I think, will merit much further development later on, after more thorough experiment. It will suffice, however, to bring to the teacher a notion of a most fertile field for the development of the written language in its most rigorous purity. It is evident that the experiment shows the possibility not only of having spontaneous compositions without grammatical errors (just as the mechanical writing was spontaneous and without errors), but of developing a love for clearness and purity of speech which will be a potent factor in improving the literary appreciation of the masses, and popular culture generally. \[95\] When the children are seized with this passion for accurate expression of their thoughts in writing, when, spontaneously, clearness becomes the goal of their efforts, they follow the hunt for words with the keenest enthusiasm. They feel that there are never too many words to build with exactness the delicate edifice of thought. Problems of language come to them as a revelation. "How many words are there?" they ask. "How many nouns, how many verbs, how many adjectives? Is there any way for us to learn them all?" They are no longer content with their little copy-books of words. They ask for a wealth of word material which they now enjoy with all the delight of attractive and orderly interpretation. They never get tired of it. These developments in our work suggested to us the idea of giving the children a large vocabulary comprising a sufficient number of nouns, verbs, and adjectives and containing *all* the words of the other parts of speech. The difference in bulk between the real content of language (substance and modification, that is, nouns with their adjectives, and verbs with their adverbs) and the other words which serve to establish relations and consolidate this content, is something very impressive to children of eight. It is for them that we tried to prepare our word charts and the dictionaries of synonyms for nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Here, meanwhile, are some of the commands which the children wrote themselves—things which they improvised all of a sudden, by an explosion of energy, as it were, developed as the result of inner maturity. Compare the aridity and uniformity of the commands we invented ourselves with the variety and richness of ideas appearing in the children's commands! We very evidently show the weariness the preparation\[96\] of the material caused us. They, on the contrary, reveal an ardent, vivacious spirit, a life full of exuberance. ### COMMANDS IMPROVISED BY THE CHILDREN —Build the pink tower very *badly*. —Make *accurately* a pose for each of the pictures in the room. —Pretend you were two old men: speak *softly* as if you were very sad; and one of you say this: "Too bad poor Pancrazio is dead!" And the other say: "Shall we have to wear our black clothes to-morrow?" Then walk along *silently*. —Walk along limping *heavily;* then *suddenly* fall *prostrate* on your faces as though you were exhausted. Return tripping *lightly* to your places, without falling and without limping. —Walk *slowly* with lowered heads as though you were very sad; return then *joyfully* and walking *lightly*. —Take a flower and run *eagerly* and give it to the lady. —Go half way round the room limping; the rest of the way *on all fours*. —Silence *immediately;* *silently* act out poses for the pictures in the room. —Go from your seats to the door *on all fours;* *then* rise and limp *lightly* half way round the room; do the other half back to the door *on all fours;* *there* rise and run *lightly back* to your seats. —Walk *silently* into the next room; walk three times around the big table and *then* return to your places. —Go into the next room running *quite fast;* come back *gradually* reducing speed until you reach your places. —Go to the cabinet *immediately;* take a letter-chart, and walk twice around the room with the chart on your head, trying *never* to let it fall; go back to your places *in the same way*. —Walk around the large hall, walking *wearily;* sit down, as though you were tired, and fall asleep; wake up *shortly after* and go back to your places. —Form in line and march forward till you reach a clear\[97\] space; *there* form a circle; *next* a rhombus; *then* a square; *finally* a trapezium. Go into the big hall conversing *softly;* *suddenly* fall to the floor *lightly* and go to sleep; then wake up and look around, saying, "Where are we?" Then go back to your seats.